LNR Partners, the special servicer that holds the mortgage on the properties, has refused city requests to identify the buyer but has notified the city the buyer will take on responsibility for the entire $35 million owed, said Brendan Cheney, a City Council policy analyst.

Under those terms, it's unlikely the buyer would invest upward of $10 million to bring the properties up to code, said Ben Carlos Thypin, a senior market analyst for research and consulting firm Real Capital Analytics, after looking at profit projections that the city said were provided by LNR.

The company, which must approve any deal before it wins a judge's OK, would not confirm the city's account and declined to comment. Court approval could occur as early as Wednesday.

Across the country, multifamily mortgages covering 401,000 apartment units and worth an estimated $35.6 billion were delinquent or in foreclosure as of this week, Thypin said. More than one-quarter fell into that status this year.

Ben Carlos Thypin

I am currently the co-founder of Quantierra, the world's first data driven real estate brokerage and investment manager. In my former life as Director of Market Analysis at Real Capital Analytics, I worked with press outlets large and small to provide them with great data and insightful commentary. Here are some of the results of this collaboration. For the rest, please check out the News Archive.